The talking ones do, the soft ones do not, and almost none charges a subscription. Loona (about $449 to $499) and EMO ($279 to $369) need Wi-Fi and a phone app for setup, updates, games and voice; Miko 3 (about $199) needs Wi-Fi and offers an optional paid plan; LOOI uses your phone as its face and brain. Eilik (about $149), Moflin ($429), Mirumi and the Joy for All pup work with no connection at all. The line that matters is not the setup evening but the years after: a robot that needs a maker's servers to talk is a robot that stops talking if the maker stops, which is what happened to Moxie in December 2024.
Free: the Mini Robot Guide, every robot pet marked by what it needs to run → Download the report
Which robot pets need Wi-Fi and an app?
| Robot | Maker | Wi-Fi | App | What stops without them |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loona | KEYi Tech | yes | yes, for setup, games, updates | voice chat, games, updates; basic roaming continues |
| EMO | LivingAI | yes | yes, most features | voice, weather, most tricks; idle animations continue |
| Miko 3 | Miko | yes | yes | learning content, conversation; the optional Miko Max plan adds content |
| LOOI | LOOI Robot | via your phone | the phone is the robot's face | everything; without the phone there is no robot |
| Eilik | Energize Lab | no | none | nothing |
| Moflin | Casio | no | optional, Bluetooth | nothing; the app only shows its mood |
| Mirumi | Yukai Engineering | no | none | nothing |
The rule: if the robot speaks or recognises faces, it needs a network, because the speech and the vision run on the maker's servers or on your phone. If it only reacts to touch and sound, it runs on its own chip and needs nothing.
Which robot pets charge a subscription?
Two on our buy list and one off it. Miko sells an optional Miko Max plan for extra content; the robot works without it. Vector, not on the list, needs a paid plan for full features since its revival. Loona is the exception people notice: ChatGPT conversation with no plan at all. EMO, Eilik, Moflin and the soft pets charge nothing after the box. We compared the pricing and account pages of every robot on our list: hidden monthly fees are rare in this category, and where a plan exists the maker says so on the product page. Full prices are in How much does a robot pet really cost, with the subscriptions?.
Why does the app matter more than the subscription?
Because the app is where the robot lives. A connected robot pet is a body plus a service: the service adds games, fixes bugs and runs the voice, and the app is the door to it. Owners' complaints about EMO are almost all about the app and the support behind it rather than the robot; owners' praise for Loona is largely about updates that keep arriving. When you buy a connected pet you are buying the maker's next two years as much as the object, so look at how often the app has been updated and how the maker answers support tickets. That is the difference between a robot that grows and one that freezes at version one.
What happens if the maker's servers go away?
The connected robot loses what ran on them. Moxie, an $799 children's companion that used cloud language models for everything, stopped working within days of its maker Embodied closing in December 2024, with refunds refused for most owners; Jibo went the same way in 2019; Vector survived Anki's collapse only because another company bought the rights and put it on a subscription. A robot that runs offline has nothing to lose. The whole question, including how to judge a maker's staying power before you buy, is in What happens to a robot pet if the company shuts down?.
Which should you choose?
Decide what you want the robot to do, then accept what that needs. Speech and face recognition mean Wi-Fi, a phone and a maker you trust to keep servers on; Loona and EMO are the honest options there. A reaction and a personality with nothing to set up or lose means Eilik, Moflin, Mirumi or the soft pets. For a child's room where a phone is not welcome, the offline list is the shortlist, covered in Which robot pets suit kids, and from what age?. To compare three on exactly these lines, use our compare tool.
Details checked on the makers’ own stores.
FAQ
Does Loona need Wi-Fi?
Yes, plus the KEYi app, for setup, voice chat, games and updates. It charges no subscription.
Does EMO need Wi-Fi?
Yes, plus the Living.AI app for most features. No subscription.
Which robot pets work without Wi-Fi?
Eilik, Eiliko, Moflin, Mirumi, the Joy for All pup and metaCat. None of them speaks.
Does Miko need a subscription?
No. Miko Max is an optional plan for extra learning content; the robot works without it.
What happens to a robot pet if the app is discontinued?
A connected robot loses voice, games and updates and keeps only what runs on its own chip. Offline robots are unaffected.
Sources
- KEYi Tech, Loona product and support pages, 2026 (app, Wi-Fi, no subscription, ChatGPT).
- Living.AI, EMO product page; Robot Review Desk, EMO review, 22 June 2026 (app dependence, support findings).
- Miko, Miko Max plan page, 2026; Staples listing, Miko 3.
- Casio, Moflin page (Bluetooth app optional); Energize Lab, Eilik page; Yukai Engineering, Mirumi page.
- Popular Science, 10 December 2024, and Axios, 10 December 2024 (Moxie shutdown, cloud dependence, refunds); The Verge (Jibo); KEYi blog (Vector subscription after revival).
Every robot pet, marked by what it needs. The Mini Robot Guide lists each one with Wi-Fi, app and subscription status, so nothing surprises you after the box. Free, one email. → Download the report
